Stewarding your mission with institutional investment guidance
Hightower Institutional Client Solutions (ICS) provides Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) services to foundations, endowments, nonprofits, healthcare, and education organizations, and other mission-driven entities. Combining the local relationship of a Hightower Signature Wealth advisor with NEPC research and consulting capabilities, ICS provides governance support, portfolio construction, investment policy guidance, reporting, and ongoing oversight.
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Organizations today face increasing demands around fiduciary oversight, investment governance, spending policies, and long-term stewardship. Institutional Client Solutions (ICS) helps Hightower Signature Wealth advisors support these responsibilities by connecting investment decisions to your organization’s mission, governance framework, and long-term objectives.
Institutional investment guidance built around your mission
Institutional consulting helps organizations develop and manage investment strategies that support their mission while addressing fiduciary, governance, spending, and long-term oversight responsibilities. Hightower Institutional Client Solutions (ICS) is Hightower Signature Wealth’s advisor-led institutional consulting and investment solution designed to help organizations connect investment decisions to policy, process, mission, and long-term stewardship.
Comprehensive solutions for institutional stewardship
Institutional organizations often need more than investment management. They need a coordinated process that connects portfolio construction, investment policy, spending needs, liquidity, governance, fiduciary oversight, reporting, and board education.
Wealth Management for Nonprofits
Hightower Signature Wealth helps nonprofit organizations manage their financial resources with their mission and long-term goals in mind, so leadership teams can stay focused on advancing their purpose and expanding their impact.
We understand that every dollar supports a mission, whether in education, healthcare, social services, the arts, or another area of service. Through customized investment strategies, fiduciary guidance, board education, and transparent reporting, we help nonprofits align their financial resources with their organizational priorities.
With deep experience in nonprofit investment consulting, we strive to deliver solutions that support long-term sustainability, liquidity needs, and governance excellence.
Services for Nonprofits Include:
- Institutional-quality investment portfolio construction tailored to your organization’s mission objectives
- Collaborative development of an investment approach that reflects your values and helps ensure strategic alignment
- Fiduciary education and board engagement to strengthen governance and financial accountability
- Transparent financial reporting and performance analytics to empower leadership with actionable insights
Wealth Management for Private and Family Foundations
Hightower Signature Wealth empowers foundations to steward their resources effectively, fulfill their charitable purpose, and create enduring impact through thoughtful financial management. Navigating regulatory and operational complexities can be challenging for foundations to manage on their own. To help streamline this, we tailor our approach to meet your distinct needs while supporting long-term impact.
Our specialized investment advisory services for foundations help philanthropic entities manage their assets with precision, purpose, and compliance. Whether you’re overseeing a private foundation or a family foundation, our team delivers strategic guidance across endowment management, excise tax compliance, and mission-related investing.
Services for Foundations Include:
- Institutional-quality investment portfolio construction tailored to your foundation’s mission objective
- Collaborative development of an investment approach that reflects your values and helps ensure strategic alignment
- Fiduciary education and board engagement to strengthen governance and financial accountability
- Transparent financial reporting and performance analytics to empower leadership with actionable insights
- Excise tax planning and monitoring of the 5% minimum distribution requirement, ensuring full regulatory compliance
- Analysis and implementation of mission-related investments (MRIs) and program-related investments (PRIs) to align capital with philanthropic goals
Institutional investment resources through NEPC
NEPC is a full-service institutional investment consulting firm. Through Hightower Signature Wealth’s relationship with NEPC, organizations may access resources designed to support complex investment programs and board-level decision-making.
See how we have helped guide our clients’ financial lives with clarity and purpose
Retired Senior Financial Executive at a Large CorporationWife, Parent, Mid-70sI chose the team after an extensive search because they tailored asset management to our family’s needs, including our two adult sons with special needs. Unlike our past advisors, they understood and prioritized our family’s objectives.
This individual is a client of Hightower Signature Wealth & Hightower Advisors, LLC. No compensation was given in exchange for their testimony. Client testimonials provided may not represent the experience of other clients and are not a guarantee of future performance or success.
- Clinical Psychologist Turned Business Owner After Husband’s DeathWidow, Parent, Late 60s
I never anticipated the emotions and strong connections I have with my team. They will be there for my children when I’m no longer here. My life is so much easier having them as part of the equation.
This individual is a client of Hightower Signature Wealth & Hightower Advisors, LLC. No compensation was given in exchange for their testimony. Client testimonials provided may not represent the experience of other clients and are not a guarantee of future performance or success.
- Retired Human Resources ExecutiveSingle, Caretaker of Mother, Mid-60s
My advisor has played a huge role in my planning process. My transition into retirement was well thought out. They helped consolidate my company stock and investments into one place and create a plan for retirement.
This individual is a client of Hightower Signature Wealth & Hightower Advisors, LLC. No compensation was given in exchange for their testimony. Client testimonials provided may not represent the experience of other clients and are not a guarantee of future performance or success.
- ENT Doctor Approaching RetirementHusband, Mid-70s
I have been a client for more than 20 years through changing markets and economic cycles. Their integrity, sound judgment, and client-first approach have earned my trust, and I highly recommend them to anyone seeking a trusted investment partner.
This individual is a client of Hightower Signature Wealth & Hightower Advisors, LLC. No compensation was given in exchange for their testimony. Client testimonials provided may not represent the experience of other clients and are not a guarantee of future performance or success.
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Have questions?
Foundations, endowments, private and public charities, healthcare systems, and educational institutions all work with Hightower Signature Wealth’s Institutional Client Solutions (ICS) team. So do the boards, investment committees, and staff at each organization who carry day-to-day responsibility for investment strategy and stewardship.
Three signals typically prompt this conversation: internal investment staff are stretched thin, the portfolio has grown more complex than the team can manage alone, or governance and risk oversight duties are expanding faster than the organization can keep up. When any of these hit, Hightower Signature Wealth’s Institutional Client Solutions (ICS) team works alongside the board to evaluate an Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) model as one option.
ICS helps organizations review, refine, and develop investment policy statements that align with their mission, governance structure, spending needs, and long-term investment objectives. An investment policy statement serves as a roadmap for managing institutional assets by defining investment objectives, asset allocation guidelines, roles and responsibilities, and the process for ongoing oversight and decision-making.
Submitting a Request for Proposal (RFP) starts with a direct conversation – organizations can reach out to an advisor at Hightower Signature Wealth to request the process. From there, the Institutional Client Solutions (ICS) team reviews the organization’s current investment policy and governance setup, then meets with the board or committee to walk through fit and next steps.
NEPC is a large institutional investment consulting firm in which Hightower holds a majority stake. That relationship gives advisors on Hightower Signature Wealth’s Institutional Client Solutions (ICS) team direct access to institutional-grade research, manager due diligence, and asset allocation guidance – resources usually reserved for pension funds and other large institutional investors, now applied to board-level decisions at ICS client organizations.
No. Working with Hightower Signature Wealth’s Institutional Client Solutions (ICS) does not eliminate a board’s fiduciary responsibility – it strengthens the board’s ability to fulfill it. ICS advisors act as a fiduciary partner, providing research, due diligence, and reporting that support informed decision-making, while the board or investment committee retains ultimate authority over investment policy, asset allocation, and spending decisions. This collaborative structure is designed to reduce risk and administrative burden without displacing governance authority.
